12-23-2011, 01:11 PM
[cool][#0000ff]There was a big dieoff of all year classes under the ice at Rockport that winter. Some say it was a virus. Some say it was a lack of food. Some say it was a water chemistry thing. Whatever it was there were bazillions of dead small perch exposed when the ice melted. Hordes of seagulls had a feast for a few days.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Thankfully, plenty of perch survived and have been trying to rebuild the population. There are some good sized fish in there now but the overall population is still only a fraction of what it was the last couple of winters before the big dieoff.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Strangely, the same thing happened on Jordanelle about the same time. The speculation there is that fires in the upstream watershed resulted in lots of ash, fire retardant chemicals and other runoff coming into the lake and wiping out the food supply of the smaller perch. And the very biggest perch had a natural dieoff at the end of their life cycle after spawning . So Jordanelle also went from a lake of perch aplenty to a perch desert. It is also coming back, but slowly.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Thankfully, plenty of perch survived and have been trying to rebuild the population. There are some good sized fish in there now but the overall population is still only a fraction of what it was the last couple of winters before the big dieoff.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Strangely, the same thing happened on Jordanelle about the same time. The speculation there is that fires in the upstream watershed resulted in lots of ash, fire retardant chemicals and other runoff coming into the lake and wiping out the food supply of the smaller perch. And the very biggest perch had a natural dieoff at the end of their life cycle after spawning . So Jordanelle also went from a lake of perch aplenty to a perch desert. It is also coming back, but slowly.[/#0000ff]
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